flyinbob

Keep in mind that usually when a flight ex-SYD is cancelled, it is because the inbound flight from the states was cancelled. So they may have had lots of folks still in SFO that needed to get TO Sydney because of the previous days cancellation.

Asuka

All times local.

United 863 went tech after afew hours on the 1st

On arrival into Sydney it performed the UA839/UA840 to/from Melbourne on the 3rd

It turned into UA870 in Sydney and UA840 was cancelled. UA870 left 100% full. The reason behind picking 870 (I believe) is because the plane is used afterwards in SFO, verses 840 which sits on the ground all day at LAX

839 last night was in Taxi mode for just over an hour before it took off, I seriously thought it was going MX, while 863 was delayed due to Airport Conditions

Apart from the normal lame excuse of Airport Conditions, things are back to normal. There will be a back log and flights will be close to 100% full.

I watched yesterday a party of 6 trying to upgrade from Y to C, yeah right, like that is going to happen! They failed.

840 is just on taxi as we speak with 3 seats in C free and spotted seats in Y

863 has 11 seats free in E+ according to the seat maps.

Have watched N194UA as an alert on FlightRadar24, the charter Plane sure gets around without any issues.

Having just done 2 flights on Delta out of SYD, I much happer with them, sure back to Y, but decent food, nice FA's, things just worked.

I don't know if I will go back to UA until they can sort out SHARES and reading other reports of auto re-routing flights is just another thorn to watch for, if you don't get tossed out of your selected seat.

IainC

UA870 usually becomes UA900 (SFO-FRA), while as you correctly indicated UA840 sits in LAX for the day going out in the evening as UA839 so that is why UA840 is always the cancellation if there are problems with an aircraft in SYD.

I was on UA839 last night (Aug 3; LAX) and we were delayed about 30 min due to late arriving connecting passengers. I have to say sitting there at the gate was quite nerve racking to say the least so was very relieved when the nose finally lifted off the run way and we were in the air. Arrived at 6:30 am about 20 min late. Flight was not full and in fact spare C seat next me which was a surprise as there were about 20 names on the upgrade list at the gate.

Asuka

Interesting, the delay on the website was for Loading Cargo, I guess that means passengers too.

The new website is rather fishy with the times, I've noticed pushback times are not actually real. Out of SYD they are often 10-20 mins before the plane even starts publishing radar inforrmation (SBS) which they are required to do from pushback. Unfortunately, FlightRadar does not have ground coverage at LAX or SFO.

I thought switching to Delta was going to be a pain out of MEL, but it's not bad to catch a domestic flight (apart from having to check my carry on) Leaves SYD earlier and I don't need to waste 1/2 a day in MEL to get flying. I get to eat as well, long time between meals on UA840 out of MEL, not to mention very rare I get to visit the NZ lounge on the way out, as I do the ramp up/down shame walk in SYD due to some delay.

Way less stress as well, everything on Delta just seems to work and if there is an issue, it's fixed quickly without having to beg or having to ring the 1K desk to get it resolved

Now if UA could tell the Contractors in SYD to give me the Small Stub of the Boarding pass, this has really messed up my lifetime collection of BP's.

Having the need to do only 2 more MEL-JFK flights to reach 1K this year, I'm going to hold out flying UA until they sort out whatever issues they have in the backend. Being told "Don't know why this has happened" over and over is just poor service.

BrisbanePE

Previous posts have me a little confused. UA863 was cancelled on Wednesday August 1. According to pax I met in SYD later it was due to a mechanical issue that caused them to get a new plane, then when due to board it was canceled as too much time had elapsed and the crew was now (or would be) illegal.

The cancelled flight went out (late) on Aug 2.

The regular 863 on August 2 also went out about an hour late.

We then had three 747's on the ground in SYD on Sat August 4. 863 was last in and had to park at the cargo terminal (gate 5) and pax were bussed back to main terminal. Arrival was approx 1 hour late. But with the added transport times on the bus etc it had a bigger impact on making connections. I disembarked at 7:40 am and got to QF transfer at 8:40 (got to love the SmartGate immigration system!). Had been scheduled on 8:05 flight to BNE but now had to take 10:05 - just a bit too late to make 9:05 due to luggage transfer times.

Aspen

I too was a little confused as to the reason 840 out of SYD was cancelled on Friday Aug 3

When did the third aeroplane depart SYD bound for the USA on Saturday, and did it carry any passengers? (if anyone knows)
I saw two United 747s fly overhead close enough to the scheduled time.

Asuka

2 Flights SYD-SFO left today Tuesday 14th.

UA870 and UA870A (Turned into UA1756) N178UA

Both with Passengers.

Seems Mondays UA870 was cancelled, which was N178UA, even though it did the SYD-MEL-SYD legs.

Aspen

This report is a few days late but I saw 840 & 870 flying overhead about 2 hours late on Friday Sept 07.
There were severe winds in Sydney on Thursday Sept 6 and Friday Sept 7 that very easily could have caused delays at SYD's Kingsford Smith Aerodrome.

docbert

Looks like UA839 was delayed leaving SYD headed to MEL, and the rest were a knock-on effect from that. Neither flights made up any time, and both landed about 2 hours late in LAX/SFO.

Asuka

These flights are more often delayed than run on time, I've given up reporting them unless they are not out by 5pm or Cancelled.

I run FlightRadar24 on my phone for alerts and see them either delayed inbound or outbound for the standard reason "Airport Conditions"

My belief is that UA doesn't care too much about on time performance, since it's not reported being an international flight.

Get to SYD, then delay the MEL, MEL goes out late and everything is just late. More often than not I have done the ramp walk of shamd at SYD, up one ramp back down onto an either still boarding or fully boarded LAX flight.

Feel free to report delays, but you too will soon give up.

docbert

Umm, no. I think you need to find a new app to report on the flights.

Over the past 2 weeks, UA870 has been early every day except for yesterday when it was a whole 9 minutes late, and the 7th (the day being talked about this this thread) when it was around 2 hours late.

UA840 over the same period has had one day where it was 1 minute late, plus obviously the 7th. Otherwise it was early every day.

Go back further and there's a few other delays, and yes, the odd cancellations, but to say that they are delayed more often than not is so far off it's just not even close.

Asuka

Have you noticed the scheduled departure times have been changing too?

The app works very well, as soon as they ident up (i.e. on taxi) I get the alert, however the times reported on the website are often earlier than the radar picks up. Other airlines such as DL and VA light up correctly.

FlightRadar24 has ground coverage into SYD and there is a station on the northern beaches that can pick up these flights 300 Miles+ out.

Edit:
Arriving Wed., Sep. 12, 2012
863 - Estimated to Arrive 2 Hours Late
839 - Estimated to Arrive 1 Hour 27 Minutes Late

Both left late from the US.

Edit2:
Love how the SYD-MEL 839 leg is Status: Estimated Departure 1 Hour 10 Minutes Late (Delayed - Awaiting inbound aircraft) Estimated Time: 10:51 a.m.

But the website MEL-SYD 840 leg is Status: On Schedule Estimated Time: 11:20 a.m.

Both 840/870 show On Schedule out of SYD

Hence the reason I track in the inbound flights the night before. Have a friend flying SYD-LAX today, but with a nice long layover in LAX, so he shouldn't be affected.

Aspen

Probably explains why they both flew overhead a little bit under an hour late this afternoon (Wed Sept 12)

It looks like they have made up some time along the way

Asuka

Yep they have with short turn times, something would have been skipped here to make the time, not to mention seat compression, 14 hours over and return, those seats wouldn't have time to recover.

Still not nice to passengers from Melbourne or with connecting LAX/SFO flights, not updating the website (for those who do not watch in the inbounds) is not very nice either, leaves no real room for looking for connections.

Doing the SYD-LAX ramp walk of shame from MEL generally means you will not find bin space in Y near your seat, they will find space, hopefully not behind you for deplane, otherwise you are basically trapped on landing and behind the long Immigration line. I carryon only due to the short trips.

It would have been rush rush rush for most passengers from MEL to SYD-LAX, not something I enjoy since they don't use the cross walk in SYD and make people walk up/down the ramps.

Flying is suppose to be enjoyable, not treated like cattle.

To get to JFK I have an 11:15 or 13:00 (Approx times) flights, so delays do count to me, otherwise it's a redeye. Delta has been good with an earlier arrival time into LAX.

Now that QF has pulled out of FRA, that opens a slot into SYD before 6am curfew, I wonder if UA would consider shifting one of their flights earlier into SYD to better manage an on going problem.

With the 350's ages away, something needs to change on this route to get it back in order, either a 3rd plane (given the loads, possible) or a reschedule.

Still think a LAX/SFO-MEL-SYD-LAX/SFO is workable, cuts down on 1 landing for the 747, no curfew at MEL, and people can connect in MEL to other places than SYD from there with plenty of time.

Weight issues have been mentioned, but since it's cargo, it can be worked out regardless.

Abit of a rant, but since International flights do not count towards UA's ontime performance, it makes me pissed every time they make an announcement about ontime and I'm yet delayed.

Asuka

UA 839/863 are on time this morning. Mins's late, but still here.